What an Architect wishes you'd ask Before You Sign Anything
The moment most commercial tenants call an architect is the moment most of the leverage is already gone. The lease is signed. The site is locked in. The budget is set, often based on a per-square-metre figure pulled from someone else’s project. By the time the architect walks through the door, the decisions that shape whether the project succeeds or fails are already behind them. This is the quiet pattern in commercial fit-outs. Not a design problem. Not a builder problem. A decision-timing problem. The three questions below are the ones that should have been asked weeks earlier, before anything was committed to. They are the questions that separate fit-outs that land cleanly from fit-outs that drift, blow out, or end up looking nothing like what the team needed.
1. Does this site actually suit the way we work?
Most site decisions are made on commercial terms. Rent per square metre. Term length. Make-good liability. Location relative to staff and clients. All reasonable. None of them answer the question that matters most once the team moves in. Will the way we work actually fit this space? Floor plate shape, column placement, ceiling height, natural light, services routing, and shared facilities all determine what is possible inside the walls. A site that looks generous on the floor plan can lose a third of its usable area once meeting rooms, breakout spaces, accessible bathrooms and circulation are accounted for. A site with low ceilings and central columns can quietly rule out the open-plan layout the leadership team assumed they were getting. The right time to test this is before the lease is signed. A test fit takes a fraction of the cost of a fit-out and tells you in advance whether the site will deliver the way you intend to work.
2. What will compliance and approvals actually require here?
Compliance is the line item most often underestimated and most often discovered late. Every commercial site sits inside a different combination of council overlays, building classifications, BCA requirements, accessibility obligations, fire and egress conditions, and end-of-trip provisions. Two sites in the same suburb can have completely different approval pathways and completely different cost profiles. A site that appears straightforward can require a full Development Application. A site that looks complex can sometimes proceed under a faster pathway. Tenants who skip this question early often discover the answer through delays. A fit-out program built around a six-week approvals timeline can stretch to four months once the actual requirements surface. By then, the lease clock is running, staff are mid-relocation, and the cost of every additional week sits with the business, not the landlord. The right time to ask this is before the offer is accepted, not after settlement.
3. What is the real cost of fit-out for this site, not the average per square metre?
Per-square-metre figures are useful for early-stage budgeting and almost useless for actual decisions. The real cost of a fit-out depends on the specific site, not the market average. Existing services. Make-good obligations from the previous tenant. Building access and after-hours work restrictions. Lift availability. Floor levelling. Whether the existing ceiling can stay or has to come out. Whether the base building meets current code or has gaps the tenant will end up funding. A budget set on an average figure can be hundreds of thousands of dollars off the actual cost, in either direction. A budget set on site-specific information allows the business to make a real decision about whether the site, the lease and the fit-out program stack up commercially. The right time to know this is before the budget is committed, not when the tender prices come in.
What changes when you ask early
These are not difficult questions. They are common ones. The difference is when they are asked. Asked early, they shape the lease, the site selection, the budget and the program. Asked late, they become the reasons the project drifts. Engaging an architect at the front of the process is not about getting design started sooner. It is about making the decisions that matter most while there is still room to make them.
If you are considering a new lease or relocation
The right time to talk to an architect is before the lease is signed, not after. A short early conversation is often the difference between a fit-out that delivers what the business needs and one that does not. Book a call to discuss your project
by Ruth Newman
A commercial tenant should engage an architect before the lease is signed, not after. The decisions that most influence whether a fit-out succeeds – site suitability, compliance pathway, and real fit-out cost on a specific site – are all best assessed before any commitment is made. Once the lease is executed, the budget set, and the site locked in, the architect is working inside a frame the business has already committed to. Engaging an architect early shapes the lease and the program. Engaging late means designing within constraints that could have been avoided.
FAQ 2: Why is a per square metre figure not a reliable budget for a commercial fit-out?
Per square metre figures are useful for early-stage budgeting and almost useless for actual decisions. The real cost of a fit-out depends on the specific site, not the market average. Existing services, make-good obligations from the previous tenant, building access restrictions, lift availability, floor levelling, ceiling condition, and gaps in base building compliance all change the cost picture significantly. Two sites in the same suburb, on the same per square metre figure, can have completely different fit-out costs. A budget set on a market average can be hundreds of thousands of dollars off the actual cost in either direction.
FAQ 3: What is a test fit, and when should it happen?
A test fit is an early architectural assessment that tests whether a specific site can accommodate the way a business actually works. It looks at floor plate shape, column placement, ceiling height, services routing, natural light, and circulation, and produces an indicative layout that shows what the site can realistically deliver. A test fit costs a fraction of a full fit-out and is most valuable when it happens before the lease is signed. At that point, it can inform the leasing decision itself. Done after the lease is signed, a test fit can still guide the design, but it cannot change the site.